Sembawang Park.
Dinnertime, but nothing nearby except some atas restaurant. Not far away, though, by the bus-stop, was a little ice cream truck. We walked towards ice cream lady, who was idling, waiting, staring at nothing.
Ice cream lady must have heard our tummies.
“What you want?”
“How much is your ice cream bell?”
Ice cream lady laughed heartily behind her mask. Her eyes were so smiley! Elaine and I each had 2 ice cream biscuit sandwiches, the childhood type (chocolate of course, never anything else for me).
It was quiet. No customers, she said. Even the Park was devoid of the usual crowd.
A moment’s spur, and I felt like keeping this memory. So I said, Auntie, I’m going to draw your Mercedes Benz. She said “No! No pictures, no drawings of me.” But I said, just your Benz.
For a few minutes I sat on the floor like a kid, in front of her luxurious 26-inch-two-wheel-drive. A man walked towards Auntie and gave her an angpow. Auntie scolded him, he scolded back, and they were scolding each other for a while. A girl leaned towards me, I looked up at her, and she shuttled back. I wondered why, then realised I was instinctively pressing my sketchbook against my chest. Why was I trying to hide my work?
No good reason. I stood up, sketch in plain view, and smiled at the girl. She smiled back, but kept her distance. The angpow man looked curiously at the sketch. Ice cream auntie looked at the sketch, then looked at me, then slapped my arm and scolded me. “I told you not to draw me!” Angpow man scolded back. “Not nice meh?” And they scolded each other for a while.
All the time, Auntie’s eyes remained smiley.
~.~
You know I’ve been doing this photography and painting thing for a while, and you most likely know I’m too dreamy to be pragmatic. Beyond style and genre, it was for me always about someone who inspires me, and if not, time and sincerity eventually willing a desire, and henceforth something beautiful to remember.
For how long more can I hang on to this romance? What will the next 20 years tomorrow look like?